Sex drug poster ads to be taken down

AMI's nasal sex spray posters are to be taken down by billboard site owner Titan

Titan, the outdoor advertising company running the controversial "Want Longer Lasting Sex?" nasal spray campaign on its billboards, is to remove the ads after being told they break UK advertising laws, MediaGuardian.co.uk can reveal.

The billboard company is to act after the firm behind the campaign, Advanced Medical Institute, yesterday defied an order by the advertising regulator to remove the ads.

AMI refused to take down the posters for the prescription nasal spray, arguing that "men have a right to know" how to perform better in bed.

Under the advertising code, which reflects UK law, prescription-only medicine cannot be advertised directly to the public.

The campaign, which was launched on 196 Titan-owned billboard sites last month, is also being investigated by the ASA after 458 complaints that it was offensive. The ASA said that, if necessary, it would approach the billboard site owner, Titan, or AMI's ad agencies to get the ads taken down.

"Given the ASA code states that prescription-only medicine cannot be advertised directly to the general public we are acting to take down the AMI posters still up as soon as we can," said Steve Cox, the Titan marketing director, speaking to MediaGuardian.co.uk.

Cox estimated that there were around 30 of the original 196 "Want Longer Lasting Sex?" billboards still up.

After its initial defiance yesterday, AMI today responded to Titan's announcement by saying it would pull the nasal spray poster campaign.

"Due to the unprecedented level of complaints and negative media coverage around our billboards in the UK, and because our focus is on helping men with premature ejaculation and erectile disfunction, and not on public rows with the ASA, we have instructed that the billboards be removed as soon as possible," the company said.

"We do believe that our position is legally defensible but we take a common sense approach to these issues and would rather focus on providing the help that can change the lives of the hundreds of thousands of men suffering from these issues, rather than on responding to continued debate through the media."

Yesterday Michael Spira, the AMI Europe medical director, said it was important not to "overreact" to the use of the word "sex" in the ads and that the company intended to let the campaign "run its course".

• To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email editor@mediaguardian.co.uk or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000.

• If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".